Tag Archives: Sweden

The USA comes out slightly better. English is only the second most popular language on Duolingo here. The only other first-world countries where the official language is the second most popular on Duolingo are Norway and Austria.

But it’s not just Sweden. There are several other countries where immigrants are using Duolingo to learn the language of their new home.

In the United States, immigrants constitute 13.1% of the total population. But even more — over 20% of the population — speak a language other than English at home, and over 25 million people speak English less than “Very Well”. Perhaps not surprisingly, then, English is the second most popular language in the United States, attracting 21% of the country’s Duolingo users.

Another case is Norway, where Norwegian is the second most popular language (with 18% of all users). Similarly to Sweden, Norway has been recently accepting many migrants and refugees. According to the data from the beginning of the year, immigrants constitute 13.4% of the total population in Norway.

There are now 55 residential areasinSwedenwhere the policecannot maintainlaw and order. TheNational CriminalIntelligenceSectionhas identifiedthe geographic areaswhere localcriminal networksare considered to haveamajor negative impact onthe surroundings.Thereare areas whereconfrontationsamong criminalscan result ingunfireon the streets, whereresidents do notdareto testifyandwhere the policeare not welcome.

The report,“A nationalsurvey ofcriminal networkswithmajor impactin the local community” (En nationell översikt av kriminella nätverk med stor påverkan i lokalsamhället), was publishedlast week.It describesareas where“unattendedpolice carsare attacked,” where police officerswill be “attacked” andwhere it is “common for police officersto be exposed to violenceand threats.” Traderssuffer fromvandalism, burglary, robbery and extortion. Narcotics are sold openly, and although/even if (även om) the gangs do not control the territory, “there are checks on cars” as part of the struggle over the drug trade.

The policedo not want totalk about these parallel societies, but in someareasresidents are seeing that“the ordinary justice system has been partly eliminated“, while policenote that“a wider clienteleturn tothe criminalenvironment for rightskeeping.” The residentsbelieve“that it isthe criminalswhocontroltheareas.”

The report covers famousplaces likeRinkeby (89.1% immigrant background) / Tensta (The open unemployment rate is 43.5% (2009) and the rate of people on social welfare is 40.2% (1999). In 1999 the employment rate was 44%. Immigrants make up 66% of the population and 95%-100% of the children in local schools are of foreign origin.) andAlby (a very high concentration of immigrants) / Fittja (contains the tallest minaret in Europe; 64.7% of the population is of non-Swedish origin, of which 25.1% are not Swedish citizens)inStockholm, Bergsjön (Over 80 percent of students in Bergsjön have Swedish as a second language) andBiskopsgårdenin Gothenburg andHerrgården (Generally considered the worst part of Rosengård, 96% of the neighborhood’s population is of foreign background (67% born abroad and 29% born in Sweden to two immigrant parents). 47% of the population is 18 years and younger. The most common countries of origin include Iraq, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Yugoslavia and Somalia. Just 15% of the population is employed. Herrgården is a social-democratic stronghold, with the Swedish Social Democratic Party garnering 82% of votes in the 2006 elections.) / Rosengård (In 2012, the figure for those of “immigrant background” was given as 86%.)in Malmö,butalso Koppargårdenin Landskrona, Arabyin Växjöand BrynäsinGavle,to name just afew.In these55locations, the police have little power tocurbcrime.Police operations are greeted withstone-throwing,and investigationsare difficult becausepeople do notwant to testify, if the crimes are even reported.

Policeare talking aboutoldergangs andyounger: the former operate more professionally and are more structured, whereas the latterareloosely-connected networks, ‘‘mayflies”that come and goin different configurations,“where the common denominatoristhe social contextandthe geographical area“.

The establishedgangs ––whichare held together by“ethnicity, kinship or friendship” (etnicitet, släktskap eller vänskapsband) ––can probably becounteredwithtargeted effortsagainst organized crime,whilethe younger ones can hardly be reached withoutbroad approachesin the local community. Policeare now investigatingwhether there isoverlap with what the government calls “exclusion areas” (utanförskapsområden; see here), to possiblyidentifysocioeconomic and otherfactors behindthe development.

The situation isnot entirely hopeless, yet. “In mostareas, after all, it is experienced that police officerscan walkfreely andpatrol on foot without fear of being attacked.” (But it just said that police officers in these areas will be attacked!)